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confined only in one place and made the property of a fingle perfon ?

If writings are thus durable, and may pafs from age to age throughout the whole courfe of time, how careful fhould an author be of committing any thing to print that may corrupt pofterity, and poifon the minds of men with vice and error? Writers of great talents, who employ their parts in propagating immorality, and feafoning vicious fentiments with wit and humour, are to be looked upon as the pefts of fociety, and the enemies of mankind: they leave books behind them, as it is faid of thofe who die in diftempers which breed an ill-will towards their own fpecies, to scatter infection and destroy their pofterity. They act the counterparts of a Confucius or a Socrates; and feem to have been fent into the world to deprave human nature, and fink it into the condition of brutality.

I have feen fome Roman-catholic authors, who tell us that vicious writers continue in purgatory fo long as the influence of their writings continues upon pofterity: for purgatory, fay they, is nothing elfe but a cleaning us of our fins, which cannot be faid to be done away, fo long as they continue to operate and corrupt manlind. The vicious author, fay they, fins after death, and fo long as he continues to fin, fo long muft he expect to be punished. Though the Roman-catholic notion of purgatory be indeed very ridiculous, one cannot but think that if the foul after death has any knowledge of what paffes in this world, that of an immoral writer would rective much more regret from the fenfe of cor

rupting, than fatisfaction from the thought of pleafing his furviving admirers.

To take off from the feverity of this fpeculation, I fhall conclude this paper with a fory of an atheistical author, who at a time when he lay dangerously fick, and had defired the affiftance of a neighbouring curate, confeffed to him with great contrition, that nothing fat more heavy at his heart than the fenfe of his having feduced the age by his writings, and that their evil influence was likely to continue even after his death. The curate upon farther examination, finding the penitent in the utin ft agonies of defpair, and being himself a man of learning, told him, that he hoped his cafe was not fo defperate as he apprehended, fince he found that he was fo very fenuble of his fault, and fo fincerely repented of it.

The penitent ftill urged the evil tendency of his book to fubvert all religion, and the little ground of hope there could be for one whofe writings would continue to do mifchief when his body was laid in afhes. The curate, finding no other way to comfort him, told him, that he did well in being afflicted for the evil defign with which he published his book; but that he ought to be very thankful that there was no danger of its doing any hurt: that his caufe was fo very bad, and his arguments fo weak, that he did not apprehend any ill effects of it: in fhort, that he right reft fatisfied his book could do no more mifchief after his death, than it had done whilst he was living. To which he added, for his farther fatisfaction, that he did not believe any befides his particular friends and acquaintance had ever been at the pains of reading it, or that any body after his death would ever inquire after it. The dying man had ftill fo much the frailty of an author in him, as to be cut to the heart with thofe confolations; and without answering the

good man, asked his friends about him, with a peevishnefs that is natural to a fick perfon, where they had picked up such a blockhead? And whether they thought him a proper person to attend one in his condition? The curate finding that the author did not expect to be dealt with as a real and fincere penitent, but as a penitent of importance, after a fhort admonition withdrew ; not queftioning but he fhould be again fent for if the fickness grew defperate. The author however recovered, and has fince written two or three other tracts with the fame fpirit, and very luckily for his poor foul with the fame fuccefs. C

No 167. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER II.
Fuit haud ignobilis argis,
Qui fe credebat miros audire tragados,
In vacuo lætus feffor plausorque theatro ;
Cætera qui vita fervarat munia recto
More; bonus fanè vicinus, amabilis hofpes,"
Comis in uxorem; peffet qui ignofcere fervis,
Et figno læfo non infanire lagenæ :
Poffet qui rupem & puteum vitare patentem,
Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curifque refectus
Expulit elleboro morbum bilemque meraco,
Et redit ad fefe; pol me occidiftis, amici,
Non fervaftis, ait; cui fic extorta voluptas,
Et demptus per vim mentis gratiffimus error.

HOR. Ep. 2. 1. 2. v. 128.
IMITATED.

There lived in Primo Georgii, they record,
A worthy member, no fmall fool, a lord;
Who, though the houfe was up, delighted fate,
Heard, noted, anfwer'd, as in full debate;
In all but this, a man of fober life,
Fond of his friend, and civil to his wife;
Not quite a madman, though a pasty fell,

And much too wife to walk into a well.

Him the damn'd doctor and his friends immur'd; They bled, they cupp'd, they purg'd, in fhort they cur'd;

Whereat the gentleman began to stare
take ye for your care!
My friends? he cry'd: pox
That from a patriot of diftinguish'd note,
Have bied and purg'd me to a fimple vote.

POPE

HE unhappy force of an imagination, un

Tsuided by the check of reafon and judg

ment, was the subject of a former fpeculation. My reader may remember that he has feen in one of my papers a complaint of an unfortunate gentleman, who was unable to contain himself, when any ordinary matter was laid before him, from adding a few circumftances to enliven plain narrative.. That correspondent was a perfon of tou warm a complexion to be fatisfied with things merely as they ftood in nature, and therefore formed incidents which fhould have happened to have pleafed him in the ftory, The fame ungoverned fancy which pushed that correspondent on, in fpite of himself, to relate public and notorious falfhoods, makes the author of the fol lowing letter do the fame in private; one is a prating, the other a filent liar.

There is little pursued in the errors of either of thefe worthies, but mere prefent amusement : but the folly of him who lets his fancy place him in diftant fcenes untroubled and uninterrupted, is very much preferable to that of him who is

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ever forcing a belief, and defending his untruths 'fame moment I have been pulled by the fleeve, with new inventions. Lut I fhall haften to let my crown has fallen from my head. The ill this liar in foliloquy, who calls himself a Caftle-confequence of thefe reveries is inconceivably Builder, defcribe himfelf with the fame unrefervedness as formerly appeared in my correfpondent abovementioned. If a man were to be ferious on this fubject, he might give very grave admonitions to those who are following any thing in this life, on which they think to place their hearts, and tell them that they are really Caftle-Builders. Fame, glory, wealth, honour have in the profpect pleafing illufions; but they who come to poffefs any of them will find they are ingredients towards happiness, to be regarded only in the fecond place; and that when they are valued in the firft degree they are as difappointing as any of the phantoms in the following letter.

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Mr. Spectator,

great, feeing the lofs of imaginary poffeffions 'makes impreffions of real woe. Befides, bad œconomy is visible and apparent in builders of 'invisible manfions. My tenants advertisements of ruins and dilapidations often caft a damp on my fpirits, even in the inftant when the fun, in all its fplendor, gilds my eastern palaces. Add to this the penfive drudgery in building, ' and conftant grafping aerial trowels, diftracts and fhatters the mind, and the fond builder of Babels is often curfed with an incoherent di'verfity and confufion of thoughts. I do not know to whom I can more properly apply myfelf for relief from this fantaftical evil, than to 'yourself; whom I earnestly implore to accom'modate me with a method how to fettle my head and cool my brain-pan. A differtation on Castle-building may not only be ferviceable to 'myself, but all architects, who display their skill in the thin element. Such a favour would 'oblige me to make my next foliloquy not con'tain the praises of my dear felf but of the Spetators who fhall, by complying with this, make

Sept, 6. 1711. AM a fellow of a very odd frame of mind, as you will find by the fequel; and think myfelf fool enough to deferve a place in your · paper. I am unhappily far gone in building, and am one of that fpecies of men who are properly denominated Castle - builders, who fcorn to be beholden to the earth for a foundation, or dig in the bowels of it for materials; T but erect their ftructures in the most unstable of elements, the air, fancy alone laying the line, • marking the extent, and shaping the model. It

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me

His obliged, humble fervant,
'Vitruvius.

would be difficult to enumerate what auguft No 168. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12.

palaces and stately porticos have grown under my forming imagination, or what verdant meadows and fhady groves have started into being by the powerful feat of a warm fancy. A caftlebuilder is even just what he pleafes, and as fuch I have grasped imaginary fceptres, and delivered uncontroulable edicts, from a throne to which conquered nations yielded obeifance. I have made I know not how many inroads into France, and ravaged the very heart of that king• dom; I have dined in the Louvre, and drank champagne at Versailles; and I would have you take notice, I am not only able to vanquish a people already cowed and accuftomed to flight, but I could, Almonzor-like, drive the British ⚫ general from the field, were I lefs a proteftant, or had ever been affronted by the confederates. There is no art or profeffion, whose most cele'brated masters I have not eclipfed. Wherever I have afforded my falutary prefence, fevers have ceased to burn, and agues to shake the human fabric. When an eloquent fit has been · upon me, an apt gefture and proper cadence has animated each fentence, and gazing crowds have found their paffions worked up into rage, or foothed into a calm. I am fhort, and not yery well made; yet upon fight of a fine woman, I have ftretched into a proper ftature, and killed with a good air and mein. Thefe are the gay phantoms that dance before my waking eyes and compofe my day-dreams. I fhould be the moft contented happy man alive, were the chi'merical happinefs which springs from the paintings of fancy lefs fleeting and tranfitory. But alas! it is with grief of mind I tell you, the leaft breath of wind has often demolished my magnificent edifices, fwept away my groves, and left no more trace of them than if they had never been. My exchequer has funk and vanished by a rap on my door, the falutation of a ⚫ friend has coft me a whole continent, and in the

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-Pectus præceptis format amicis.

HOR. Ep. 1. 1. 2. v. 128. Forms the foft bofom with the gentleft art.

IT

POPE.

T would be arrogance to neglect the application of my correfpondents fo far, as not fometimes to infert their animadverfions upon my paper; that of this day fhall be therefore wholly compofed of the hints which they have fent me.

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Mr. Spectator,

choice of a fubject, for treating on which Send you this to congratulate your late

you deferve public thanks; I mean that on thofe licensed tyrants the fchool-masters. If you can difarm them of their rods, you will certainly have your old age reverenced by all 'the young gentlemen of Great-Britain who are You now between feven and feventeen years. may boast that the incomparably wife Quintilian and you are of one mind in this particular. "Si cui eft," fays he, "mens tam illiberalis `ut "objurgatione non corrigatur, is etiam ad pla "gas, ut peffima quæque mancipia durabitur:"

i. e." If any child be of fo difingenuous a na"ture, as not to ftand corrected by reproof, he, "like the very worst of flaves, will be hardened " even against blows themfelves." And after'wards, "Pudet dicere in quæ probra nefandi "homines ifto cædendi jure abutantur:" i e. "I blush to fay how fhamefully thofe wicked "men abuse the power of correction."

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I was bred myfelf, Sir, in a very great school, of which the mafter was a Weifhman, but certainly defcended from a Spanish family, as 'plainly appeared from his temper as well as I leave you to judge what a fort of a fchool-mafter a Welshinan ingrafted on a Spaniard

his name.

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and are fo full of themselves as to give diftur. 'bance to all that are about them. Sometimes you have a fet of whifperers who lay their heads 'together in order to facrifice every body within their obfervation; fometimes a fet of laughers, that keep up an infipid mirth in their own corner, and by their noife and geftures fhew they have no refpect for the reft of the company. You frequently meet with thefe fets at the opera, the play, the water-works, and other public meetings, where their whole bufinefs is 'to draw off the attention of the fpectators from the entertainment, and to fix it upon themfelves; and it is to be obferved that the impertinence is ever loudeft, when the fet happens to be made up of three or four females who have got what you call a woman's man among them.

And yet I may say without vanity, that the bufinefs of the fchool was what I did without < great difficulty; and I was not remarkably unlucky; and yet fuch was the master's feverity, that once a month, or oftener, I fuffered as ⚫ much as would have fatisfied the law of the land for a Petty Larceny.

Many a white and tender hand, which the ⚫ fond mother had paffionately kiffed a thoufand and a thousand times, have I feen whipped until it was covered with blood: perhaps for fmiling, or for going a yard and half out of a C gate, or for writing an O for an A, or an A for an O: thefe were our great faults! Many a • brave and noble spirit has been there broken! others have run from thence and were never heard of afterwards. It is a worthy attempt to undertake the cause of diftreffed youth: and it is a noble piece of knight-errantry to enter the lifts against fo many armed pedagogues. It is pity but we had a set of men, polite in their behaviour and method of teaching, who fhould be put into a condition of being above flattering or fearing the parents of thofe they inftruct. We might then poffibly fee learning become a pleasure, and children delighting themselves in that which now they abhor for coming upon fuch hard terms to them, what would be ftill a greater happiness arifing from the care of fuch inftru&tors, would be, that we fhould have no more pedants, nor any bred to learning who had not genius for it. am, with the utmost fincerity,

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Your most affectionate humble fervant.

Richmond, Sept. 5th, 1711.

'I am at a lofs to know from whom people ' of fortune fhould learn this behaviour, unlefs it be from the footmen who keep their places at a new play, and are often seen paffing away their time in fets at all-fours in the face of a 'full houfe, and with a perfect difregard to the 'people of quality fitting on each fide of them.

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For preferving therefore the decency of public affemblies, methinks it would be but reafonable that thofe who difturb others fhould pay at least a double price for their places; or 'rather women of birth and distinction should be informed, that a levity of behaviour in the eyes ' of people of understanding degrades them below their meanest attendants; and gentlemen should 'know that a fine coat is a livery, when the per'fon who wears it discovers no higher fenfe than 'that of a footman. I am,

Sir, your moft humble fervant.'

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AM one of those whom every body calls

a

A poacher, and fometimes go out to courfe with a brace of grey hounds, a mastiff, and a fpaniel or two; and when I am weary with courfing, and have killed hares enough, go to an alehoufe to refresh myself. I beg the favour of you, as you fet up for a reformer, to fend us 'word how many dogs you will allow us to go with, how many full-pots of ale to drink, and how many hares to kill in a day, and you 'will do a great piece of fervice to all the sportsmen: be quick then, for the time of courfing

Mr. Spectator, AM a boy of fourteen years of age, and have for this last year been under the tuition of a doctor of divinity, who has taken the school of this place under his care. From the gentleman's great tenderness to me and friendship to my father, I am very happy in learning my book with pleasure. We never leave off our diverfions any farther than to falute him at hours of play when he pleafes to look on. It is impoffible for any of us to love our own parents bet- T ter than we do him. He never gives any of us

an harth word; and we think it the greatest • punishment in the world when he will not fpeak to any of us. My brother and I are both together inditing this letter: he is a year older than I am, but is now ready to break his heart that the doctor has not taken any notice of him thefe three days. If you pleafe to print this he will fee it, and, we hope, taking it for my brother's earnest defire to be reftored to his favour, he will again fimile upon him.

Your moft obedient fervant,

• Mr. Spectator,

T. S.'

YOU have reprefented feveral forts of im

Y pertinents pusly, I with you would now

proceed, and defcribe fome of them in fets. It often happens in public affemblies, that a party nencies are of an equal pitch, aft in concert,

is come on.

Yours in hafte,

"Ifaac Hedgeditch,'

No 169. THURSDAY, SEPT. 13.
Sic vita erat: facilè omnes perferre ac pati
Cum quibus erat cunque unà, his fefe dedere,
Eorum obfequi ftudiis: advorfus nemini;
Nunquam præponens fe aliis: Ita facillimè
Sine invidia invenias laudem.-

Ter. Andr. Act. 1. Sc. 1.

His manner of life was this: to bear with every body's humours; to comply with the inclinations and pursuits of thofe he conversed with; to contradict nobody; never to affume a fuperiority over others. This is the ready way to gain applaufe, without exciting envy.

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enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief, and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another. Every man's natural weight of afflictions is ftill made more heavy by the envy, malice, treachery, or injuftice of his neighbour. At the fame time that the ftorm beats upon the whole fpecies, we are falling foul upon one another.

Half the mifery of human life might be extinguished, would men allievate the general curfe they lie under, by mutual offices of compaffion, benevolence, and humanity. There is nothing therefore which we ought more to encourage in ourselves and others, than that difpofition of mind which in our language goes under the title of good-nature, and which I fhall choose for the fubject of this day's fpeculation.

Good-nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. It fhews virtue in the faireft light, takes off in fome measure from the deformity of vice, and makes even folly and impertinence supportable.

There is no fociety or converfation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or fomething which must bear its appearance, and fupply its place. For this reafon mankind have been forced to invent a kind of artificial humanity, which is what we exprefs by the word good-breeding. For if we examine thoroughly the idea of what we call fo, we shall find it to be nothing elfe but an imitation and mimicry of good-nature, or in other terms, affability, complaifance and eafinefs of temper reduced into an art.

These exterior shows and appearances of humanity render a man wonderfully popular and beloved when they are founded upon a real good-nature; but without it are like hypocrify in religion, or a bare form of holinefs, which when it is difcovered, makes a man more deteftable than profeffed impiety.

Good-nature is generally born with us; health, profperity and kind treatment from the world are great cherishers of it where they find it; but nothing is capable of forcing it up, where it does not grow of itself. It is one of the bleffings of a happy conftitution, which education may improve but not produce.

Xenophon in the life of his imaginary prince, whom he defcribes as a pattern for real ones, is always celebrating the philanthropy or goodnature of his hero, which he tells us he brought into the world with him, and gives many remarkable inftances of it in his childhood, as well as in all the feveral parts of his life, Nay, on his death-bed, he defcribes him as being pleafed, that while his foul returned to him who made it, his body should incorporate with the great mother of all things, and by that means become beneficial to mankind. For which cafon, he gives his fons a positive order not to enshrine it in gold or filver, but to lay it in the earth as foon as the life was gone cut of it.

An inftance of fuch an overflowing of humanity, fuch an exuberant love to mankind

As

could not have entered into the imagination of a writer, who had not a foul filled with great ideas, and a general benevolence to mankind. In that celebrated paffage of Saluft, where Cæfar and Cato are placed in fuch beautiful, but oppofite lights; Cæfar's character is chiefly made up of good-nature, as it fhewed itself in all its forms towards his friends or his enemies, his fervants or dependents, the guilty or the diftreffed. for Cato's character, it is rather awful than amiable. Juftice feems most agreeable to the nature of God, and mercy to that of man. A Being who has nothing to pardon in himself, may reward every man according to his works; but he whofe very best actions must be seen with grains of allowance, cannot be too mild, moderate, and forgiving. For this reason, among all the monstrous characters in human nature, there is none fo odious, nor indeed fo exquifitely ridiculous, as that of a rigid fevere temper in a worthless man.

This part of good-nature, however, which confifts in the pardoning and overlooking of faults, is to be exercised only in doing ourselves juftice, and that too in the ordinary commerce and occurrences of life; for in the public adminiftrations of justice, mercy to one may be cruelty to others.

It is grown almost into a maxim, that goodnatured men are not always men of the most wit. This obfervation, in my opinion, has no foundation in nature. The greateft wits I have converfed with are men eminent for their humanity. I take therefore this remark to have been occafioned by two reasons. First, because ill-nature among ordinary obfervers paffes for wit. A fpiteful faying gratifies fo many little paffions in thofe who hear it, that it generally meets with a good reception. The laugh rifes upon it, and the man who utters it, is looked upon as a fhrewd fatirift. This may be one reafon, why a great many pleafant companies appear fo furprisingly dull, when they have endeavoured to be merry in print; the public being more juft than private clubs or affemblies, in diftinguishing between what is wit and what is ill-nature.

Another reason why the good-natured man may fometimes bring his wit in queftion, is, perhaps, because he is apt to be moved with compaffion for thofe misfortunes or infirmities, which another would turn into ridicule, and by that means gain the reputation of a wit. The ill-natured man, though but of equal parts, gives himself a larger field to expatiate in; he expofes thofe failings in human nature which the other would caft a veil over, laughs at vices which the other either excufes or conceals, gives utterance to reflections which the other ftifies, falls indifferently upon friends or enemies, expofes the person who has obliged him, and, in short, flicks at nothing that may establish his character of a wit. It is no wonder therefore he fucceeds in it better than the man of humanity, as a perfon who makes ufe of indirect methods is more likely to grow rich than the fair trader.

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The END of the SECOND VOLUME.

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